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LOS ANGELES - The UC San Diego women's tennis team traveled to Cal
State L.A. for the 2012 USTA/Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Regional
Championships on Thursday to open the 2012-13 season.

On the singles front, Tara Vanooteghem was flawless in the
opening round, sweeping Dixie State's Ashley Anderson, 6-0, in both sets. Vanooteghem
advanced to play Erika Januskova of Fresno Pacific in the round of 32, but was defeated, 7-
5, 6-0.

After earning a first-round bye, Melissa Breisacher competed against Azusa
Pacific's Stephanie Quan and fell, 6-1, 6-1. Elsewhere in singles play, Maiko Hermsmeier
was defeated by Jill Sangria of CSULA in straight sets, 7-5, 6-2, while Melinda Chu also
played a strong match before falling to Grand Canyon's Justine Majan, 6-3, in both sets.

Later in the day, the doubles team of Hermsmeier and Chu took on Irina Morozova and
Gaby Verspieren of Dominican University and handed the Penguins a 8-6 defeat.

Two Tritons will have two doubles teams in action Friday. Breisacher and Vanooteghem,
who had a first round bye, will take on Priscilla Annoual and Justine Majan of Grand
Canyon. Chu and Hermsmeier will face Katharina Mittag and Frederique Van de Velde, also
from Grand Canyon. Both matches begin at 3:30 p.m.

The three-day tournament features the top NCAA Division II men's and women's tennis players in the West Region. Cal State L.A. is hosting the West event for a third straight year. In all, 8,000 varsity tennis players from more than 600 schools will be competing in eight USTA/ITA Regional Championships across the nation.

The singles and doubles champions from this week's regional will advance to the USTA/ITA National Small College Championships, which will be held at the Copeland-Cox Tennis Center in Mobile, Alabama on Oct. 11-14. The national championship event will include all eight regional champions from the NCAA Division II and III, NAIA and Junior/Community Colleges levels.

The singles and doubles champions at each level will then compete to become the overall "Super Bowl" champions. The "Super Bowl" champions will earn wild cards into the USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships with the opportunity to win the culminating event held at the USTA-Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.